1887

Microbiology Society logo

Volume 21, Issue 1

Fimbriae and Adhesive Properties in Klebsiella Strains Free

Abstract

SUMMARY: Fimbriae were found in 125 of 154 non-motile Klebsiella strains examined by electron-microscope in serial aerobic broth cultures. Fimbriate strains occurred in each of the capsule serotypes 1–72 and mostly showed the biochemical reactions of saprophytic The fimbriae were clearly distinguishable from the capsules and occurred also in non-capsulate mutants. Most fimbriate strains showed evidence of varying reversibly between a fimbriate and a non-fimbriate phase. The proportion of bacilli with fimbriae was greatest in broth cultures and was decreased, though never eliminated, by serial cultivation on nutrient agar. All 29 permanently non-fimbriate strains belonged to serotypes 1–6 and showed biochemical reactions common in pathogenic and strains (anaerogenic, methyl-red positive, non-citrate utilizing or nonlactose fermenting). They differed from the fimbriate strains in growing less abundantly and usually in failing to form a pellicle on broth.

All the fimbriate strains, but none of the non-fimbriate, showed one or other or both of two kinds of adhesive property: one attributed to an ‘MS adhesion’ susceptible to inhibition by -mannose and associated with a thick variety of fimbriae; the other due to an ‘MR adhesin’, resistant to mannose and associated with thinner fimbriae. Bacilli with MS adhesin rapidly adhered to red blood cells of the guinea-pig and other animals, except the ox, to leucocytes and to intestinal epithelial cells, including those of ox, to cells, to the mycelium of and other moulds, and to plant root-hairs. Bacilli with only the MR adhesin did not adhere to untreated red cells, leucocytes or ‘smooth’ yeasts, but adhered rapidly to ox and other red cells treated with tannic acid, red-cell stromata heated at 70° or 100°, fungus mycelium and plant root-hairs. Bacilli of many fimbriate strains and one non-capsulate non-fimbriate strain adhered to glass and cellulose.

  • Received:
  • Published Online:
© Society for General Microbiology 1959
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-21-1-271
1959-08-01
2024-04-24
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/micro/21/1/mic-21-1-271.html?itemId=/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-21-1-271&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Anderson T. F. 1949; On the mechanism of adsorption of bacteriophages on host cells. Symp. Soc. gen. Microbiol 1:76
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Boyden S. V. 1951; The adsorption of proteins on erythrocytes treated with tannic acid and subsequent haemagglutinationbyantiprotein sera. J. exp. Med 93:107
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Brinton C. C., Buzzell A., Lauffer M. A. 1954; Electrophoresis and phage susceptibility studies on a filament-producing variant of the E. coli B bacterium. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 15:533
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Constable F. L. 1956; Fimbriae and haemagglutinating activity in strains of Bacterium cloacae . J. Path. Bact 72:133
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Duguid J. P. 1948; The influence of cultural conditions on the morphology of Bacterium aerogenes with reference to nuclear bodies and capsule size. J. Path. Bact 60:265
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Duguid J. P. 1951; The demonstration of bacterial capsules and slime. J. Path. Bact 63:673
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Duguid J. P., Gillies R. R. 1957; Fimbriae and adhesive properties in dysentery bacilli. J. Path. Bact 74:397
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Duguid J. P., Gillies R. R. 1958; Fimbriae and haemagglutinating activity in Salmonella, Klebsiella, Proteus and Chromobacterium . J. Path. Bact 75:519
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Duguid J. P., Smith I. W., Dempster G., Edmunds P. N. 1955; Non-flagellar filamentous appendages (‘Fimbriae’) and haemagglutinating activity in Bacterium coli . J. Path. Bact 70:335
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Edmunds P. N. 1954; Further Klebsiella capsule types. J. infect. Dis 94:65
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Edwards P. R., Ewing W. H. 1955 Identification of Enterobacteriaceae Minneapolis: Burgess Publishing Co;
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Edwards P. R., Fife M. A. 1952; Capsule types of Klebsiella. J. infect. Dis 91:92
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Gillies R. R., Duguid J. P. 1958; The fimbrial antigens of Shigella flexneri . J. Hyg., Camb 56:303
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Houwink A. L., van Iterson W. 1950; Electron microscopical observations on bacterial cytology. II. A study on flagellation. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 5:10
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Mackie T. J., McCartney J. E. 1956 Handbook of Practical Bacteriology, 9th ed. pp. 427–9 Edinburgh: E. and S. Livingstone, Ltd;
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Tittsler R. P., Sandholzer L. A. 1936; The use of semi-solid agar for the detection of bacterial motility. J. Bact 31:575
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Wilkinson J. F. 1958; The extracellular polysaccharides of bacteria. Bact. Rev 22:46
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Wilkinson J. F., Duguid J. P., Edmunds P. N. 1954; The distribution of polysaccharide production in Aerobacter and Escherichia strains and its relation to antigenic character. J. gen. Microbiol 11:59
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-21-1-271
Loading
Fimbriae and Adhesive Properties in Klebsiella Strains
Microbiology 21, 271 (1959); https://doi.org/10.1099/00221287-21-1-271
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-21-1-271
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-21-1-271
Loading

Data & Media loading...

Most cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error